iamaw as a source of a spark Fire and Explosion of the Center Wing Tank It is obvious from the IAMAW s report that they clearly do not buy the NTSB s trumped up explanation that the Center Wing Tank blew itself up spontaneously It was blown up by some external event In fact they point out that if the CWT explosion was the initiating event there is no indication that the force of the explosion could have been enough to rupture the hull much less decapitate the strongest aricraft ever built One might ask why is the IAMAW challenging the NTSB s official line while TWA and Boeing have taken a more diplomatic approach to questioning the theory Good question Probably because they do not rely on the good graces of the Federal Government for all manner of oversight Boeing needed the government s approval to merge with McDonnall Douglass and help with sales of aricraft to China TWA is highly regulated and subject to the NTSB and FAA oversight on a daily basis The government could bring TWA to its knees by selective application of the hundreds of regulations they administer It is significant to note that the NTSB

hall_transcript-8-22-00 We will pursue each of these items in some detail over the next two days This is a lot of ground to cover but before moving ahead I would like to make one additional comment I know that at the outset many believe that the crash of flight 800 was caused by a criminal act and for many the efforts of the times the ongoing court trials and the aftermath of the World Trade Center bombings in New York and the heightened concern about terrorism at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta seemed to lead a certain credence to the notion Certainly the nature of the event and its rarity led some to question whether the crash of flight 800 was really an accident As many of you know a substantial law enforcement investigation was conducted in parallel with the safety board s investigation After conducting a thorough investigation the FBI suspended its investigation in November 1997 indicating that no evidence had been found to indicate that a criminal act was the cause of the tragedy of TWA Flight 800 Despite this finding by our nation s law enforcement agency the Federal Bureau of Investigation some have urged the safety board to assume in effect a law enforcement role to prove or disprove their assertion that the crash of flight 800 was the result of a bomb or a missile That is beyond this agency s mandate and authority Our focus is safety Our people are aviators engineers and scientists I believe some of the best in the world But they are not criminal investigators However even though our law enforcement even though our employees are not law enforcement personnel they examined every piece of wreckage for any physical evidence that the crash that the crash of flight 800 could have been caused by a bomb or amissile Had we found such evidence we would have immediately referred the matter back to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for their action Let me state unequivocally the Safety Board has found no evidence To the families of flight 800 I would like to add this comment It is unfortunate that a small number of people pursuing their own agendas have persisted in making unfounded charges of a government cover up in this investigation These people do a grievous injustice to the many dedicated individuals civilian and military who had been involved in this investigation Some 75 NTSB members have participated in this investigation I ll pause while their name are listed on the screens in front of you BREAK IN COVERAGE BERNARD LOEB DIRECTOR NTSB OFFICE OF AVIATION SAFETY And indeed that massive effort symbolizes the extent to which this investigation has gone and leaving no stone unturned Al Dickinson the investigator in charge will be discussing the on scene portion of the investigation in his opening remarks so I will not go into detail about that at this time What I am going to do is to summarize the significant findings of our investigation This will be just an overview More detailed explanations will be provided by investigators during their individual presentations over the next two days But I think an overall summary of what you will be hearing would be valuable to put things in context First we knew almost immediately after the accident that TWA Flight 800 had experienced an in flight breakup This was strongly suggested by the radar data There was a loss of transponder returns and the primary radar returns indicated that pieces had departed the airplane and were fairly widely dispersed in the ocean The wreckage recovery locations made it evident relatively early in the investigation that the in flight breakup was initiated by an event in the area of the fuselage near the forward part of the center wing tank Specifically pieces from the forward part of the center wing tank and adjacent areas of fuselage were recovered from the westernmost portion of the wreckage field the portion of the wreckage field closest to JFK Airport from where Flight 800 took off This first wreckage area is referred to as the Red Zone The recovery of the pieces from the Red Zone indicated that they were the first pieces to separate from the airplane The nose portion of the airplane was found further to the east and what was labeled the Yellow Zone indicating that this portion of the airplane separated later in the breakup sequence And most of the remaining wreckage was found in the eastern most portion of the wreckage field farthest from JFK which was labeled the Green Zone Further analytical studies of the trajectories of the departing pieces of the airplane were consistent with the wreckage recovery findings This basic evidence the radar data and the wreckage recovery locations indicated that the airplane broke up inflight and that the breakup initiated in the area of the fuselage near the forward part of the center wing tank On the basis of this initial information we considered several possible causes for the initiation of the in flight breakup a structural failure and decompression a detonation of a high energy explosive device such as a bomb or missile warhead and a fuel air vapor explosion in the center wing tank We found no evidence that a structural failure and decompression initiated the breakup A thorough examination of the wreckage by our engineers and metallurgists did not reveal any evidence of fatigue corrosion or any other structural fault that could have led to the breakup As a side note I would like to mention that there was absolutely no evidence of an in flight separation of the forward cargo door one of the many theories suggested to us by the members of the public The physical evidence demonstrated that the forwardcargo door was closed and latched at water impact We also considered the possibility of a bomb or missile However high energy explosions leave distinctive damage signatures on the airplane structure such as severe

finalreport as a scheduled international passenger flight from John F Kennedy International Airport JFK New York New York to Charles DeGaulle International Airport Paris France The flight departed JFK about 2019 with 2 pilots 2 flight engineers 14 flight attendants and 212 passengers on board All 230 people on board were killed and the airplane was destroyed Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the TWA flight 800 accident was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank CWT resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel air mixture in the tank The source of ignition energy for the explosion could not be determined with certainty but of the sources evaluated by the investigation the most likely was a short circuit outside of the CWT that allowed excessive voltage to enter it through electrical wiring associated with the fuel quantity indication system Contributing factors to the accident were the design and certification concept that fuel tank explosions could be prevented solely by precluding all ignition sources and the design and certification of the Boeing 747 with heat sources located beneath the CWT

oldletters NTSB to Commander Donaldson From the letter I have referred your new statements on Jet A fuel to our technical experts and have asked them to review them and to respond appropriately I can only say that the aggressive certainty of some of your statements appears not to be justified I will of course share our staff s observations with you when they are completed Despite Hall s promise this was the last communication from the NTSB November 14 1997 Third Letter to the NTSB From the letter Phrases like The aggressive certainty of some of your statements appears not to be justified may mean something to a Tennessee lawyer but it s nonsense to me All I ve done is what your advisers should have done day one that is quote the pre existing professional data THE Aviation Fuels Handbook Because of your agency s successful permutation of facts essential to this investigation it s pernicious effect on the media the incredible crash scenario you have tabled apparently designed to subvert eyewitness testimony and your stonewalling of simple congressional questions I have sought and received funding to conduct an independent investigation Reply None December 3 1997 Letter to Director of the FBI From the letter Mr Freeh I will be candid the fact that the FBI is now joining in lockstep with the NTSB political script sadly was not a surprise to me because of what I had discovered on Long Island Mr Kallstrom s agents who turned over every rock ten times failed to tape critical eyewitness testimony failed to establish visual bearing lines from the witnesses who observed ascending objects failed to get elevation measurements failed to get relative motion statements and in some cases failed to even go to the observation point that is except from some eyewitnesses who didn t see a missile Like Mrs Sahid Multiple witnesses tell me agents on rare second or third visits to persons who saw ascending objects tried to get the witness to change their original stories Many of these people are now afraid of and disgusted with their own government the administrations mantra No evidence of a criminal act is turning normal American citizens into bitter cynics Reply None January 21 1998 Response from the FBI to a letter from the House Aviation Subcommittee Commander Donaldson worked with Representative Traficant s Office to formulate these questions From the letter Dear Representative Trafficant Enclosed for inclusion in the record of the hearing before the Aviation Subcommittee on July 1997 please find the FBI s responses to the written questions submitted by your letter dated October 1 1997 to then Assistant Director in Charge James K Kallstrom July 27 1998 FBI reply to Congressman Trafficant s April 1998 letter co authored by Donaldson July 27th Letter from Lewis D Schiliro Acting Assistant Director in Charge FBI In response to an April letter to the FBI from Congressman James A Trafficant D Ohio From the letter Following extensive analysis of raw

FBI Response to Rep.Trafficant FBI s investigation will remain in a pending inactive status at least until such time as NTSB determines a probable cause for the accident that excludes the possibility of criminal conduct being the cause of the Flight 800 tragedy Therefore except for our production in response to the subpoena issued in the civil litigation which will be subject to a protective order and the release of redacted eyewitness statements to NTSB the FBI has no current intentions to release publicly other evidence in this case Question 2 In its analysis of radar tapes has the FBI been able to positively identify every single aircraft and surface vessel that was in the proximity of TWA Flight 800 at the time of the accident FBI Answer No Following extensive analysis of raw radar returns by the FBI the NTSB and an outside expert in January 1997 the FBI first noted the presence of a surface vessel which because of its speed of between 25 and 35 knots is believed to be at least 25 30 feet in length approximately 2 9 nautical miles from the position of Flight 800 at the time of the initial explosion The analysis first noted the boat s presence at approximately 8 11 P M traveling in a South Southwesterly direction The last radar contact was noted at approximately 8 45 P M Despite extensive efforts the FBI has been unable to identify this vessel However based on our investigative efforts we are confident it was not a military vessel Question 3 If the answer to question number two is yes can the FBI positively match every surface vessel and aircraft with an individual or individuals Has the FBI interviewed every one of these individuals FBI Answer With the exception of the vessel discussed in the response to question 2 all other vessels and aircraft noted on radar have been identified and appropriate interviews conducted Question 4 Can the FBI share with my office the results of its radar analysis specifically the identities of all the surface vessels and aircraft in the proximity of TWA Flight 800 FBI Answer No for the reasons stated in response to question number 1 above Question 5 I applaud the FBI for the work it did in conjunction with the Department of Defense in examining the possibility that Flight 800 was struck by a missile or missile fragments However did the FBI fully examine the possibility that the accident may have been caused by an over pressure explosion outside the aircraft which did not result in any shrapnel or fragments hitting the aircraft but which caused enough over pressure to cause the nose of the aircraft to break off FBI Answer The FBI with the assistance of the missile experts a China Lakes and other experts who assisted in the investigation considered the possibility of a proximity explosion including a proximity explosion that did not result in shrapnel or fragments hitting the aircraft According to the missile experts the possibility that

April 8, 1999 part of my investigation my staff interviewed key personnel at the NTSB the FBI the Suffolk County NY Medical Examiner s Office and the Department of Defense s China Lake facility I also engaged in a lengthy correspondence with the NTSB the FBI the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency Copies of this correspondence are included in the appendix of my report As I am sure you are aware there are still a number of people who remain convinced that Flight 800 was downed by a missile Some maintain that the United States Navy was responsible for firing the missile or in some way involved in the downing of the plane I had originally intended to question the U S Navy about the proximity and actions of its vessels off the coast of Long Island on July 17 1996 However these questions were effectively answered through my questioning of the NTSB the FBI and missile experts from China Lake In addition a member of my staff also closely examined the eyewitnesses statements Based on conversations my staff had with missile experts at China Lake and the Congressional Research Service I am convinced that what the majority of the eyewitnesses described was Flight 800 in various stages of crippled flight not a missile launch These are the same conclusions that the CIA s missile experts came to when they were asked by the FBI to examine the eyewitnesses statements Given all of the above mentioned factors I decided not to submit questions to the Pentagon Regrettably despite numerous assertions by my office the NTSB and the FBI that there has not been a cover up relative to the Flight 800 investigation many people continue to contact me with allegations that the U S Navy was responsible in some shape or